Daughter
by abetternameneeded
Summary: Detective Rogers has memories of having a daughter. He's never met her. Idea from tumblr user: wicked-storybrooke


It had been a one night stand. The memory was hazy. The woman? Well he couldn't even remember her name. Not until it showed up on an envelope in his mailbox. The contents within revealing he had a child. A beautiful baby girl. She had his eyes. The blue of the ocean he longed to visit. He wanted to meet her. Wanted to contact her. But he couldn't. The mother wouldn't allow it. Refused to give him any idea on how he could contact the child once she aged.

He wondered what she was like. He wasn't even sure if she _existed,_ her mother was such a faded memory the child could be some grand charade. He believed she was real and she was his. He wished he could see her. He made do with his imagination. Thinking about what she would be like as she aged. But she never aged. Not really. Not long into the little girl's life he received another letter. She had died. The letter didn't even explain how she had died. Just that she had.

He saw her in most of the young girls he interacted with. Wished that he'd been able to be with his little girl at least once before she had passed. He hadn't even been invited to the funeral. He knew he didn't belong there. The girl didn't know him. And he didn't know her. He didn't even know her name.

Years passed and he became a cop. Became obsessed with doing everything by the book. Threw himself full force into every case. And then that girl, Eloise, went missing. He threw himself headfirst into that case as well. He hated the thought of a young girl dying away from her family. And he knew what it was like to mourn the loss of a child. He knew his loss couldn't compare to the loss of the parents that actually knew their children. But he obsessed over the case anyway, following every lead he could. And then he became Weaver's partner.

Detective Weaver was _unconventional _to put it nicely. And to put it any other way he was a manipulative bastard who did what suited him. And somehow that made him a damn good detective. Weaver, in a way, introduced him to a CI. Detective Rogers wasn't so sure about the _confidential_ part of the job description. The girl waltz into the station whenever she bloody well felt like it. Her eyes reminded him of his own. Reminded him of the daughter he'd lost before he'd even met her.

The more time Rogers spent around Tilly the more she reminded him of his daughter. Reminded him of what he imagined his daughter would be like. He began to fell a surge of protectivness for the girl. And he watched out for her. Keeping a little distance too scared to freak her out. Never mentioning that she reminded him of the child he'd lost.

And then he found Eloise Gardner, the elusive kidnap victim he'd spent years of his life trying to track down. She wasn't at all what he had expected. Even Weaver said she was a master manipulator. Tilly said she was a monster. Warned him that bad things would happen. He should have listened. Then Tilly was a prime suspect in a murder case. But he couldn't believe she'd do that. She was too nice and deep down maybe he wanted the connection he felt to be real in some way.

And so he hides her at Henry Mill's house. Or tries to. The girl is restless. He's not sure why. And then he offers her a place to stay. His spare bedroom. There wasn't much reason for him to have a two bedroom apartment. He'd rented it hoping that his daughter would come and stay with him sometimes. But she never did.

And then Tilly went with Eloise. And Eloise told him Tilly was the daughter he thought had died. She was gloating. He entertained the possibility. Tried to talk Tilly down from going through with this plan. It would hurt him. It would hurt Margot. A girl Tilly seemed to be growing quite fond of. And Rogers couldn't say he disapproved. The girl seemed to be the only one that could talk Tilly out of one of her states.

And then the curse breaks. And Detective Rogers' memories linger inside Killian. Tilly, no not Tilly _Alice_ really was his daughter. She wasn't dead. But he was scared. She could die. And he wouldn't be able to protect her. He's rushed to the hospital after standing far too close to her. And as he lays in the hospital bed covered in wires, he mourns the third time he has lost his daughter.


End file.
